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China Girl (song)
"China Girl" is a song co-written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop during their years in Berlin, first appearing on Pop's album The Idiot (1977). The song became more widely known when it was rerecorded by Bowie and released on his album Let's Dance (1983) and as a single. Paul Trynka, the author of David Bowie's biography, Starman, claims the song was inspired by Iggy Pop's infatuation with Kuelan Nguyen, a beautifulVietnamese woman.[2] The UK single release of Bowie's remake reached No. 2 for one week on 14 June 1983, behind "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, while the US release reached No. 10. Contents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Girl_(song)# hide *1 Track listing (Bowie remake) **1.1 7": EMI America / EA 157 (UK) **1.2 12": EMI America 75038 / 12EA 157 (UK) *2 Music video (Bowie remake) *3 Live performances *4 Chart performance (Bowie remake) *5 Production credits (Pop original) **5.1 Musicians *6 Production credits (Bowie remake) **6.1 Producer **6.2 Musicians *7 Other releases *8 Cover versions *9 References *10 External links Track listing (Bowie remake)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=1 edit 7": EMI America / EA 157 (UK)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=2 edit #"China Girl Edit" (Bowie, Pop) – 4:14 #"Shake It" (Bowie) – 3:49 12": EMI America 75038 / 12EA 157 (UK)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=3 edit #"China Girl" (Bowie, Pop) – 5:32 #"Shake It Re-Mix" (Bowie) – 5:21 *On the US 12", "Shake It" is called the "Long Version," although it's identical to the UK's "Re-Mix" *The UK 12" single's cover was slightly different from the US cover (they're mirrors of each other), and the flip side of the UK 12" includes dates for the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour in the UK (specifically the London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Milton Keynes shows). Music video (Bowie remake)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=4 edit The music video, featuring New Zealand model Geeling Ng, was directed by David Mallet and shot mainly in the Chinatown district of Sydney, Australia. Along with his previous single's video for "Let's Dance", Bowie described the video as a "very simple, very direct" statement against racism.[3] Although the video consciously parodies Asian female stereotypes, it was nevertheless criticised by Ellie Hisama for failing to give the female character a personality and voice.[4]The original video release includes the two lying naked in the surf (a visual reference to the film From Here to Eternity),[5][6] though versions of the video included on subsequent video and DVD compilations are slightly censored to remove the nudity. The original video went on to win an MTV video award for Best Male Video.[7] Live performanceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=5 edit The song was a regular for Bowie's live shows for the rest of the 1980s (appearing on concert videos in 1983 and 1988 -- Serious Moonlight and Glass Spider, respectively). It was rehearsed for his appearance at the 1985 London Live Aid concert but along with the songs "Fascination" and "Five Years" was eventually dropped due to time constraints. Additional live versions of the song appear on 2009's release of a 1999 performance for VH1 Storytellers and on a 2010 release, entitled A Reality Tour, recorded at Bowie's November 2003 concerts in Dublin, Ireland. Chart performance (Bowie remake)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=6 edit Production credits (Pop original)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=7 edit Musicianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=8 edit *Iggy Pop – vocals *David Bowie – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals *Carlos Alomar - guitar *Phil Palmer – guitar *George Murray – bass *Michel Santangeli – drums *Omar Hakim, Tony Thompson – drums *Laurent Thibault – bass Production credits (Bowie remake)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=9 edit Producerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=10 edit *Nile Rodgers Musicianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=11 edit *David Bowie: Vocals *Stevie Ray Vaughan: Guitar *Nile Rodgers: Guitar *Carmine Rojas: Bass *Omar Hakim: Drums *Rob Sabino: Keyboards *Mac Gollehon: Trumpet *Robert Aaron, Stan Harrison, Steve Elson: Saxophone *Sam Figueroa: Percussion Other releaseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=12 edit *It appeared on the following compilations: **''Changesbowie'' (1990) **''Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993'' (1993) **''The Singles Collection'' (1993) **''Best of Bowie'' (2002) **''The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987'' (2007) *The soundtrack for the film The Wedding Singer featured "China Girl". *The original Iggy Pop version is included in Pop's compilation A Million in Prizes: The Anthology. Cover versionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=China_Girl_(song)&action=edit&section=13 edit *Nick Cave - Live recording in Melbourne, 1978. *James - Single (1998) *James Cook - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)[8] *Trance to the Sun -''Goth Oddity: A Tribute to David Bowie'' (1999) *Anna Ternheim - Shoreline EP (2005) *Voltaire - Zombie Prostitute... (2006), and on .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006) *Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter (Bonus CD) (2001) *The Tragically Hip - During "New Orleans is Sinking" on Live Between Us a verse of "China Girl" is sung. *Scars on Broadway - Live with altered lyrics[citation needed] *System of a Down - Live with altered lyrics[citation needed] *The White Stripes - Live[citation needed] *Alejandro Sokol - Live[citation needed] *John Frusciante - Live Category:1983 singles